Cannes 2018: Making Social, Social

Cannes 2018: Making Social, Social

Sulaiman Beg

June 22, 2018

Be authentic, be relevant, be true to yourself—and your brand.

"Mediums have nothing to do with creativity. We need to focus on what makes an emotional connection with people."

“Our entire world of marketing has been changed because of this,” CCO and Chairman of Havas Creative North America Jason Peterson said lifting up his iPhone, “and we’re still operating in the old model.”

Peterson joined executives from Lacoste and Instagram to discuss how brands today, in order to connect meaningfully with consumers, need to find new ways of expression and storytelling using a “visual vernacular.”

“The copywriter, art director. That’s the Bill Bernbach model,” Peterson said. “I’ve got some bad news for you. Bill Bernbach is dead. My competition isn’t BBDO or DDB—it’s kids with iPhones with 50,000 followers. We need to move from creatives to creators. That’s two different things. I want these kids to come into the agency and do that for us and our clients. There’s never been a better time to be in advertising.”

Matt Jacobson, employee No. 8 at Facebook and Head of Market Development at both Instagram and Facebook, acknowledged that while visuals have always mattered—especially for luxury and beauty brands—no one at Instagram in its early days was thinking about the immediacy of the platform and how to use it as a storytelling platform.

“It all comes back to storytelling,” he said. “People have found that communication through a visual vernacular is powerful. Brands like Lacoste and Rolex have gone all in because they have stories to tell.”

“And the instant response one gets on Instagram is not something you can replicate with a TV spot,” Jacobson added. “There’s no friction to unfollowing someone. So, if you’re not resonating with your audience, you’ll know.”

But, as a brand, how do you figure out your story to tell?

Lacoste Chief Marketing Officer Sandrine Conseiller said, “As a heritage brand like Lacoste, it was about staying true to who you are.”

“What is very important for us is to be true to what the brand represents,” she said. “You need vision and tailwinds. We have those tailwinds in how we express the values of our founders [René Lacoste and André Gillier].”

Conseiller mentioned the creative team was so excited about the project they pitched it to her during some downtime at another shoot. In five minutes, she approved it.

“We don’t have time or money for research; we go with the gut,” she said, which received applause from the creatives in the audience. “And from a client perspective, you should only present ideas that you truly, truly believe in.”

“The reason campaigns like it work,” Peterson said, “was because they make an emotional connection with people.”

“Platforms will change,” he said. “It’s all about the emotional connection you have to an image. Mediums have nothing to do with creativity. We need to focus on what makes an emotional connection with people. Advertising is not going away.”

"Mediums have nothing to do with creativity. We need to focus on what makes an emotional connection with people."

“Our entire world of marketing has been changed because of this,” CCO and Chairman of Havas Creative North America Jason Peterson said lifting up his iPhone, “and we’re still operating in the old model.”

Peterson joined executives from Lacoste and Instagram to discuss how brands today, in order to connect meaningfully with consumers, need to find new ways of expression and storytelling using a “visual vernacular.”

“The copywriter, art director. That’s the Bill Bernbach model,” Peterson said. “I’ve got some bad news for you. Bill Bernbach is dead. My competition isn’t BBDO or DDB—it’s kids with iPhones with 50,000 followers. We need to move from creatives to creators. That’s two different things. I want these kids to come into the agency and do that for us and our clients. There’s never been a better time to be in advertising.”

Matt Jacobson, employee No. 8 at Facebook and Head of Market Development at both Instagram and Facebook, acknowledged that while visuals have always mattered—especially for luxury and beauty brands—no one at Instagram in its early days was thinking about the immediacy of the platform and how to use it as a storytelling platform.

“It all comes back to storytelling,” he said. “People have found that communication through a visual vernacular is powerful. Brands like Lacoste and Rolex have gone all in because they have stories to tell.”

“And the instant response one gets on Instagram is not something you can replicate with a TV spot,” Jacobson added. “There’s no friction to unfollowing someone. So, if you’re not resonating with your audience, you’ll know.”

But, as a brand, how do you figure out your story to tell?

Lacoste Chief Marketing Officer Sandrine Conseiller said, “As a heritage brand like Lacoste, it was about staying true to who you are.”

“What is very important for us is to be true to what the brand represents,” she said. “You need vision and tailwinds. We have those tailwinds in how we express the values of our founders [René Lacoste and André Gillier].”

Conseiller mentioned the creative team was so excited about the project they pitched it to her during some downtime at another shoot. In five minutes, she approved it.

“We don’t have time or money for research; we go with the gut,” she said, which received applause from the creatives in the audience. “And from a client perspective, you should only present ideas that you truly, truly believe in.”

“The reason campaigns like it work,” Peterson said, “was because they make an emotional connection with people.”

“Platforms will change,” he said. “It’s all about the emotional connection you have to an image. Mediums have nothing to do with creativity. We need to focus on what makes an emotional connection with people. Advertising is not going away.”

Sulaiman Beg

Director of Global Internal Communications

Sulaiman Beg is Havas' Director of Global Internal Communications. He has never eaten canned tuna fish.

Cannes 2018: Day Four Inside the Palais

By continuing your navigation without changing your cookie settings, you accept the use of cookies to analyse and measure audience, attendance, navigation and redirection from external websites. To learn more about the policy Learn more and set cookies.